Monday, December 12, 2011

Some Soccer News for Mon Dec 12, 2011

STARTERS

Tigres is the winner of the Mexican Apertura Championship. Huge win! Congrats to them.

dN

Sporting Kansas City has agreed to release Omar Bravo so he can return to Mexico and play for Cruz Azul in the upcoming Clausura.-I have no idea what this really means. Did they sell him? Did they loan him? did they just tear up the contract? Who knows.-Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star tries to look behind the curtain.

dN

Recently retired LA Galaxy and USA centerback Gregg Berhalter has been named as the new head coach of Hammarby in Sweden.-In case you didn't know Hammarby is partially owned by AEG who also owns the Galaxy.

dN

Herculez Gomez has signed with Santos Laguna for next season.-They just finished second in the Apertura.

dN

There are plenty of rumors going around about English team's lining up to buy New York centerback Tim Ream - but none of these ever mention a price. He will be sold cheap, relatively speaking.

dN

Juventus got a tie at Roma today keeping them as the only team still without a loss in the big leagues of Europe. (Cuz the other unbeaten Man $ity got popped today by Chelsea.)

El Clasico was certainly classic in many ways. Like Real Madrid scoring 20 seconds into the game and then Barca slowly but surely building up to speed and then pulling away for a great win. Real Madrid could have made it a lot better game though, as they must have wasted 5 good scoring chances. It seemed like they choked!

A couple other biggies from the weekend & Monday:-Sun Dec 11Stuttgart 1-2 Bayern - Bayern win the Sudderby and move back into first place.-Mon Dec 12Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City - juicy game sees Man City lose for the first time this season.Roma 1-1 Juventus - the bitterness between these two play only lead to stalemate.

The Galaxy also selected two of their own players so that they can offer them new contract probably at a significant pay cut: Dasan Robinson and Frankie Hejduk

COLORADORAPIDS

The Rapids have promoted Tim Hinchey to be the new club President. He was the head of marketing for the team.-He has vast experience as an executive at both Derby County FC in England, the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA.

The Union roster just keeps getting younger - They announced the signing of 18 year old midfielder Jimmy McLaughlin from their academy program.

dN

From the team: "The average age of the 25 players currently listed on the Union roster is 23.52. 18 players are 23 or under."

TORONTO FC

TFC goalkeeper Stefan Frei is training at Liverpool.

MLS/USA RELATED RUMORS

France & Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has been linked to MLS a few times in the past couple of years, but that will not happen soon as he signed with Shanghai Shenhua in China.

NASL NEWS

Press release:"The North American Soccer League (NASL) will kick off the 2012 season on Saturday April 7th, with four games across North America. The opening weekend will be highlighted by a matchup between the reigning NASL Champion NSC Minnesota Stars and 2011 NASL Regular Season Champion Carolina RailHawks at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN."

Tim Chandler was red carded late in the first half of a Nurnberg loss. Not good.

dN

Zak Whitbread returned to the Norwich lineup after yet another long injury lay off.

dN

Game Action:

BELGIUM - Pro LeagueSacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - played the whole game but lost 2-1 at Mechelen.

ENGLAND - Premier LeagueClint Dempsey - Fulham - went the full 90 but lost 2-0 at Swansea.Brad Friedel - Tottenham - played the entire game but lost 2-1 at Stoke.Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - The Worm went the distance as they won 1-2 at Bolton.Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance by lost 1-0 at Arsenal.Zak Whitbread - Norwich - started and played 83 min as they won 4-2 v Newcastle.

ENGLAND - Championship LeagueRobbie Findley - Nottingham Forest - on the bench as they lost 0-1 v Crystal Palace.Jonathan Spector - Birmingham - played the whole match as they won 2-1 v Doncaster.

ENGLAND - League OneMike Grella - Brentford - on the bench as they won 2-1 v Hartlepool.Anton Peterlin - Wallsall - came on as a sub in the 84th min as they drew 1-1 v Charlton.

FRANCE - Ligue 1Quentin Westberg - Evian - on the bench as they lost 2-1 at Toulouse.

GERMANY - BundesligaTimmy Chandler - Nurnberg - started but was red carded and they wlost 0-2 v Hoffenheim.Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - on the bench as they drew 0-0 v Leverkusen.Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim - played teh full 90 setting up both goals as they won 0-2 at Nurnberg.Jermaine Jones - Schalke - played the entire game getting a yellow card and theywon 1-2 at Hertha Berlin.Daniel Williams - Hoffenheim - came on as a sub in the 66th min and they won 0-2 at Nurnberg.David Yelldell - Bayer Leverkusen - on the bench as they drew 0-0 at Hannover.

GERMANY - 2 BundesligaLuis Robles - Karlsruher - on the bench as they lost 3-1 at Duisburg.Matt Taylor - Paderborn - came on as a sub in the 89th min as they won 2-0 v Hansa Rostock.

ISRAEL - Ligat AlRyan Adeleye - Hapoel Be'er Sheva - started and came off at half time getting a yellow card along the way and they won 0-1 at Hapoel Rishon Lezion.Bryan Gerzicich - Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona - Mon Dec 12 v Hapoel Tel AvivLeo Krupnik - Maccabi Netanya - on the bench as they drew 1-1 at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

ITALY - Serie AMichael Bradley - Chievo Verona - went the distance getting a yellow card as they lost 2-1 at Udinese.

NETHERLANDS - EredivisieJozy Altidore - AZ Alkmaar - started and went the full 90 as they won 4-0 v De Graafschap.

PORTUGAL - Primeira LigaOguchi Onyewu - Sporting - went the distance scoring the games only goal as they won 1-0 v Nacional.

PORTUGAL - Liga de HonraCaleb Patterson-Sewell - Atletico CP - played the whole game as they drew 1-1 v Penafiel.Tony Taylor - Atletico CP - started and went 80 min as they drew 1-1 v Penafiel.

SCOTLAND - Premier LeagueCarlos Bocanegra - Rangers - went the distance getting a yellow card as they won 0-2 at Hibs.Mo Edu - Rangers - started and played 88 min as they won 0-2 at Hibernian.

AMERICANS IN SOUTH AMERICA

Tom Marshall of MLSsoccer.com introduces us to one Kevin Piedrahita who has been launched into the race for the title in Colombia with America de Cali.-How did this happen you ask? The 1st string keeper got busted for PEDs. The 2nd keeper, also an American Diego Restrepo got a red card in the previous game. So this is his shot!

MEXICO

LIGUILLA - Finals

UANL Tigres of Monterrey have won their first championship since 1982!